


3Bs—the Other One Can Die in a Hole

by DeiUta



Category: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst, Best Friends, Canon Compliant, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Getting Together, M/M, Only a tiny bit, Pining, Pining Dirk, Realization, spoilers for end of s1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-19
Updated: 2018-06-19
Packaged: 2019-05-25 17:00:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14981582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeiUta/pseuds/DeiUta
Summary: Dirk had asked himself plenty of times in the past 30-odd years of his life if he was crazy, but this? This was driving him mad. It was situations like these that made him really hate Blackwing for taking away his childhood. Because now he had so many gaps to fill, and he had a feeling [a hunch] he’d never fully catch up.or,Dirk realising his feelings for Todd are a touch deeper than he anticipated.





	3Bs—the Other One Can Die in a Hole

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: This was inspired by “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered” /the song/ [here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPPAPG14J4U]. Though you really should read coloursflyaway's fic by the same name. It's gorgeous.
> 
>  
> 
> Here's a few lyrics:
> 
> Couldn't sleep, wouldn't sleep  
> When love came and told me, I shouldn't sleep.  
> Bewitched, bothered and bewildered, am I.
> 
> I lost my heart, but what of it, he is cold I agree  
> He might laugh, but I love it, although the laugh's on me.
> 
> I'll sing to him, bring spring to him  
> And long, for the day when I'll cling to him.  
> Bewitched, bothered and bewildered, am I.
> 
> He's a fool and don't I know it,  
> But a fool can have his charms,  
> I'm in love and don't I know it

3Bs—the Other One Can Die in a Hole     

_ii._

Dirk had asked himself plenty of times in the past 30-odd years of his life if he was crazy, but this? This was driving him _mad_. It was situations like these that made him really hate Blackwing for taking away his childhood. Because now he had so many _gaps_ to fill, and he had a feeling [a hunch] he’d never fully catch up.

His situation? That could wait for now. They had a case! Or so Dirk liked to call it; really, he was trying to forcibly push away uncomfortable topics with subterfuge and misdirection.

It wasn’t really working.

See, part of the problem was: Dirk hadn’t been sleeping well lately. And yes, part of that had to do with Blackwing. But another part had to do with the growing bond between him and his assis-friend. Because as luck would have it, his assis-friend was turning out to be a better match for him than he’d ever thought possible. Which unfortunately means he must spend each night remembering the long hugs and touches and close conversations they have. Which unfortunately means he’s rarely well-rested enough to cover up his escalating crush. Crush? Could you really call it a crush if you were intimately aware of their secrets—the good and the bad—and still wanted to be with them? Was it still a crush when he knew there was no one else he’d rather have by his side to solve electric-puzzles?

Was it still a crush when he was willing to keep his feelings to himself to save their current relationship?

Questions like these plague him when the lights go out. Which is why you simply cannot blame Dirk for what happens a morning after one such night.

He gets up, as usual, and trudges to Todd’s apartment to get his temporary-morning-sugar-fix—a bit like Todd’s need for coffee, but less grim.

So they’re talking about something stupid, grunts gradually becoming more and more homo-sapien. When Dirk says something stupid, like he always does. Except this time, he wishes he were awake enough to remember what he said. Because after he says it, a few things happen:

 

Todd gives Dirk one of his slow-roast smiles, and Dirk’s brain becomes a half-mush, half-sun-warmed _mess_.

Which is ironic, since that’s the precise moment he pieces multiple things together. His subsequent “ _Oh,_ ” comes out ever so softly.

And there’s a teetering, in that small kitchen, wherein Dirk can hear his heartbeat in his mouth. Can feel Todd’s breath brush his neck. Can see into the bright, slightly cloudy blue eyes of his now more-than crush. There’s a teetering, wherein Dirk feels a tug that could slam him into Todd. 

And then he catches the raise of an eyebrow.

 

And then it’s a mad dash to where Mrs. Dolby’s family treasure was _misplaced_ , not buried.

 

\--

_iv._

Sometimes, Todd’s an iceberg, and while _technically_ Dirk knows he’s got a lot going on beneath the surface…the way his friend cuts himself off from everyone makes it difficult to remember. And it _hurts_ , that Todd won’t let anyone in—won’t let _Dirk_ in. 

So he treasures the times when Todd is warm, and does his best to be warm when Todd isn’t.

But sometimes, it’s too cold. So Dirk flees, because that’s all he’s good for.

Lately, more and more, Todd follows him. And struggles to apologize for the person he used to be as well as his most recent foul. And Dirk lets him, because he’s never had someone genuinely care. But he makes sure their make-up hug is extra-long so he has time to remind Todd that he _has_ changed, and he _is_ better.

And maybe it’s because Todd feels so bad about what he’s done, but he lets Dirk say this, uncontested, and Dirk thinks he can work with that.

 

_iii._

When they finally had a moment kind-of-alone after Todd saw him giving past!Dirk The Message, Dirk thought ‘this is it.’ And then it had been. But he didn’t realize what he still had, even then, until he was outside the hospital, completely lost in the stream of creation, with nowhere to go.

He’d never wanted to be close to Todd so badly. To have a hug that wasn’t just him forcing someone into it, but that the other party _wanted_ to be a part of. And with Todd…he thought he had a chance.

Obviously, he was wrong.

_Ah. The world’s back to grey, eh?_

Except it wasn’t, not really. Before, he’d never had a proper frame of reference for what a friend could be. And then Todd showed up, and was even better than he ever could’ve imagined. Which made losing him that much more painful. No, the world wasn’t back to being grey. Every colour imaginable was sucked out of it, so that even the greys lost their vibrance.

But such was his life.

 

\--

**Todd POV**

\--

_iv._

“ _Dirk,_ would you just—“

“No _,_ Todd,” he says, voice full of derision thinly coating his mounting concern, “I won’t ‘just’!”

Todd drags his hands down his face, his groan growing the farther down his face his hands move.

 

 

_iii._

Dirk whirls around to face him. 

“Todd! We have a _case_!” Todd’s stomach _sinks_.

But then Dirk _beams_ , and Todd can’t help the swirl of excitement that curls in his gut.

 

 

_ii._

Dirk smiled, his usually too big smile just on the cusp of being too soft.

Of course, the sight of such a special smile caused Todd to melt on the spot. He felt his lips betray his usually stern persona, and couldn’t even be mad, because it was _Dirk_. Todd was still getting used to having him _back_ , and kept looking around every couple of seconds to make sure he would _stay_.

 

\--

_i._

 

Todd stretches. “Well, it’s getting late, Dirk. We’d better get some rest.”

Dirk looks down, then pastes on a grin. “Yeah! I’ll see you in the morning, Todd!”

But Todd’s learned from his mistakes. He grabs Dirk’s shoulder before he can make a hasty retreat.

“Wait.”

Dirk stops immediately, as though this is what he’d been waiting his whole life to do. And then he looks past the hand on his shoulder to look at Todd, and yep, those big eyes are filled with hope.

Todd sighs, and decides that for Dirk? Swallowing his pride is the least he can do. “You can stay here, you know.”

Dirk turns around fully, both of his hands shooting up to gently cradle Todd’s hand. “Really?!”

And Todd has to grin [but that doesn’t mean he can’t half-hide it by lowering his head]. “Really.”

And Dirk practically _leaps_ onto Todd’s bed.

 

“Great! Fair warning: I’ve never had a proper sleepover, but I’m sure I can piece it together, especially since there was this one case involving a—”

 

Todd smiles.

  

\--

**Dirk POV**

\--

_i._

 

Dirk can’t stifle his laugh.

“Hey!” Todd cries good-naturedly. “I wasn’t _that_ bad!”

Dirk starts  _giggling_. “Ohhh, yes you were, Todd,” he cackles in between fits. “You were completely deluded!”

Todd gives him the fondest and yet still most ridiculously sarcastic eye-roll he’s ever seen, which Dirk has started cataloguing as a Todd-specific phenomena. [Amanda’s were filled with a bit more sadism and a lot less fondness] “Hey. It’s not _my_ fault you’re so difficult to read!” Todd leans in closer, an eyebrow raised. “How was _I_ supposed to know the guy who’d swept me off my feet into wild adventure after wild, fantastic adventure felt the same way about me? It’s not like you did any better!”

Dirk can’t help the full smile that splits his face at the barely subtle confession. “Yeah, but _I’m_ the one who got us where we needed to be.”

Todd huffs, smile only growing. “But _I_ actually asked you out.” The ‘you idiot’ was both implied and ridiculously fond.

 

 

Only his Todd.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> The Other B is Blackwing.
> 
>  
> 
> I love these two so much ;-;;. I’m really hoping for a season 3. And 4. And 5 and 6. Honestly this feels like the kind of story that could go on for ages. I sincerely hope it does.
> 
> And yeah...first Dirk Gently fic, done. Hope you liked it.


End file.
